Sequence analysis of theVκ transcripts from individual VH4-34expressing/IgM+/CD5+ B-CLL cells.
(A) Intraclonal light-chain diversity in 21 clonally relatedVκA27-Jκ2transcripts. VκA27 was identified as the closest germline sequence.15 Dashes indicate sequence identity. Somatic mutations are shown either as small letters for silent mutations or as capital letters for replacement mutations. Positions of CDRs and FRs are marked according to Kabat et al.28 The numbers of V rearrangements carrying the same sequences are indicated. AllVκ and correspondingVH sequences have been reported to GenBank (accession numbers AY057999–AY058047). (B) Genealogical tree of cells expressing additional mutations in clonally relatedVκA27-Jκ2transcripts, as demonstrated in panel A. Numbers within each circle represent the codon position of the respectiveVκ rearrangements. Mutated nucleotides are underlined, and silent or replacement substitutions are shown as small or capital letter, respectively. Resultant R/S ratios of CDRs and FRs, respectively, for each of the clonally relatedVκA27-Jκ2transcripts are also given.
